Posted
by
timothy
on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @12:08PM
from the waiting-for-it-to-hit-goodwill dept.

Tackhead writes "E3 is turning into Bizarro World this year. Sony has not only promised that the PS4 will support used games without an online connection, they trolled the Xbox folks hard with this Official PlayStation Used Game Instructional Video. Compounding the silliness, and hot on the heels of the political firestorm surrounding Donglegate, Microsoft went for rape jokes during their Xbox presentation."
Similarly, onyxruby writes "The Verge covers how Sony has crafted policies explicitly to make the PS4 consumer friendly to the public. They make the case that the PS4 will be superior in nearly every way [to the Xbox Next] by not requiring an Internet connection, not restricting used games, supporting indie developers and selling for $100 cheaper than the Xbox One." And if you're interested in the guts rather than the policies or the politics, Hot Hardware has a comparison of the internals of both of these new offerings.

So far, it looks like the PS4 hardware is better, it's got Elder Scrolls Online as an exclusive (a big deal for me), there is less of that authentication/DRM drama (amazing coming from Sony, who have always been the worst control freaks in the past), and it's $100 cheaper too!

I've been a fan of Xbox since the Xbox 1. But MS is making all the wrong moves on the Xbox One. And looks like Sony is making all the right ones on the PS4. I may have to cross the line on this next generation.

It's funny watching my Xbox fanboy friends making ridiculous apologetic statements for Microsoft.
"You have to pay for online access for the PS4 now as well!" As though that's actually a supportive argument for the Xbox One.
"I'm glad there is always-on DRM so that I can download and play my games on other people's consoles while signed in!" As though MS is incapable of making the 24 connection requirement only necessary for digitally purchased games, and allow you to only play disc-purchased games when you have the disc.
"I always have internet, so this isn't a problem for me!" As though Xbox Live has never been down for several days at a time before (or been weird about not letting large numbers of people sign in while others have no problem)

I've never been a Sony fan, and I still don't know if I can trust the company that pulled the rootkit scandal. What I do know is that I am absolutely not going to a be a Microsoft customer this next generation. I will probably get a Wii U to play 1st party Nintendo games, and do the rest of my gaming on PC. Sony still has a shot at convincing me to get a PS4, but Microsoft has already lost me.

Time for a reality check: the incredibly vast majority of people don't give a shit about Other OS. It was a sucky move by Sony to remove it, no denying that, but it affected 0.001% of their user base and perhaps put off half of those if not less. They don't give a damn about a few angered/. posters who swore off Sony because they couldn't run Linux on their game consoles.

Their move right now is to capitalize on the bad press Microsoft has received. They're not trying to offset anything, they're trying (and largely succeeding) to win out big time on how terrible the Xbone sounds by giving people exactly what they've always had and wanted to keep. The slides about used games and phoning home were likely added at the last minute as a gigantic jab at Microsoft and wouldn't have made an appearance otherwise.

Time for a reality check: the incredibly vast majority of people don't give a shit about Other OS

That is true, but that is not the only functionality they removed. Also removed was backwards compatibility for PS2 games which was a HUGE selling point for the PS3 Considering the install base and game sales of the PS2.

Sony can say whatever they want now, it simply doesn't matter. They have lost a trust that you simply can't earn back overnight. Then put the data breach on top of that and of course they have to do or say whatever they can to generate interest.

I am confident in saying that more than 0.001% of their user base remembers these things.

But why is it such a big deal for you and others like you that your gaming system has to be connected to the internet?

Because the connection doesn't benefit me, and is mostly used for Microsoft to act like douchebags and collect marketing information, as well as starting out with the premise that I must be pirating therefore I need to be closely monitored.

Last year, when Microsoft rolled out an Xbox update, they started putting ads into the games and the home screen. That was the point at which my XBox was permanently disconnected from the network. I'm not paying to buy the game, and then paying for a fucking advertising channel for them. And I'm sure as hell not giving the right to make arbitrary updates to a device I purchased any time they like just because they've updated the TOS and want to.

There is but ONE truly compelling reason why someone wouldn't want their console to ever touch the internet and that would be piracy.

Then you are completely missing the point -- the ONE compelling reason isn't piracy, it's privacy, and the right to control how I play games.

Right now I can play, and Microsoft will never know about it. I can go over to a friends with my disk, and Microsoft will never know about it. I can sell the game, and Microsoft will never know it. Now they expect to be able to have a device in my house which can report on what I do (and do you trust Microsoft after they rolled over for the NSA?), and I will need to ask permission to run a game over at a friends. And if I sign in as my account, they now have even more information about me, and can associate it with my friends.

Again, I just want to know what is your line of thinking in being so unacceptable of the evolving system.

My line of thinking is that right now I can game how and when I choose, without asking Microsoft for fucking permission. Right now I don't need to see their ads. Right now, I know damned well my game console isn't reporting back to the mothership. Right now, Microsoft doesn't need to know who the hell I am and I can live without an XBox Live account.

I don't want this because it's ramming crap down my throat that I don't want. I don't play games on-line, I don't want to buy the extra shit in their store, I don't want to rent movies from Microsoft -- I want to play a fucking video game, randomly and intermittently, and entirely offline. And there is nothing in that scenario which requires an internet connection, so this mostly just forces me to use it 'their' way.

So I don't care if you think I sound like a luddite, because you sound like someone who is too unaware of the issue to understand. So you buy it, you hand over all of your data to Microsoft, you ask for permission to take a game to a friends place. You ask for permission to sell your used games. There's simply no benefit to me to be forced to change how I play video games in order to satisfy Microsoft's business strategy or DRM wishes.

As described, that platform is pretty anti-consumer, and pretty much says "it's our way or the highway". I'm just taking them up on it.

Why are you so willing to have these things dictated to you by Microsoft? Why are you so willing to cede your right of first sale? Why are you willing to give up your privacy? Because you're 19 with ADHD and can't live without something shiny and have no clue? Or because you think these are awesome things that somehow benefit you??

Because other than being a snide little prick who is insinuating I'm both a luddite, incompetent, and living in the past, you've failed to say anything other than "we should totally just do this because I'm incapable of understanding why it's a bad idea". You're about 2 steps behind "if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear".